OMAHA, Neb. ? Bradley nearly erased a 16-point second half deficit, but fell short as Creighton was able to hold off the Braves in the final minute of play for a 72-69 victory Saturday in Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball action at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
Already playing shorthanded with senior Monica Rogers (Forsyth, Ill./St. Teresa/Hampton) sidelined with a season-ending injury, the Braves were without active career scoring leader Devyn Flanagan (Riverton, Ill./Riverton), who missed the game after suffering a concussion Thursday at Drake. In addition senior point guard Rachel Merriman (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame/Illinois Central) was limited to just 10 minutes off the bench because of the flu.
Creighton (11-7 overall, 4-3 MVC) led by nine points at the half (38-29) and used a six-point spurt to seemingly put the game out of reach after extending its lead to 54-36 nearly midway through the second half.
Bradley (7-11 overall, 1-6 MVC) trailed 56-40 with just over nine minutes to play when freshman Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower), who was starting in place of the injured Flanagan, scored eight consecutive points to spark a 17-5 Bradley run to pull the Braves to within four points at 61-57 with 3:16 to play.
Kelsey Woodard nailed a three-pointer with just under two minutes left remaining to extend Creighton's lead to 67-59, but the Braves had a little gas left in the tank to make a late push.
Taylor found junior Kelly Krumwiede (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West) for an easy transition bucket and a Creighton offensive foul in the backcourt gave the Braves another possession. Krumwiede hit a jumper in the lane to cut the deficit to four points (67-63) and sophomore Skye Johnson (Olympia Fields, Ill./Marian Catholic) stole the ball near halfcourt on Creighton's next possession. Krumwiede split a pair of free throws with 1:08 on the clock to make it a one possession game.
Creighton's Ally Thrall drove into the lane and made a layup with 49.7 seconds left to push the Bluejays lead back to five (69-64), but Krumwiede answered with a layup of her own with just under 20 seconds to play. Thrall made a pair of free throws with 13.2 seconds on the clock to push the advantage back to five points (71-66), before Johnson would knock down Bradley's only three-point field goal of the night with 5.5 ticks left to cut the CU lead to 71-69.
Freshman Kelsey Woodard, a 90.7 percent free throw shooter, split a pair of free throws with 2.9 seconds left to push Creighton's lead to 72-69 and the Braves were unable to get a shot off before time expired. The three-point loss was Bradley's fourth MVC road loss by five points or fewer.
Krumwiede led the Braves with a season-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and also had a team-best nine rebounds. Taylor made her first career start and responded with a season-best 15 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists and five steals. Freshman Sonya Harris (Riverdale, Ill./Thornton) also had a season-high 12 points off the bench, hitting 5-of-8 shots, in addition to five boards, two assists and one blocked shot.
Bradley forced 24 Creighton turnovers and came away with 13 steals. The Braves committed just 16 turnovers, but were outrebounded by the Bluejays 40-33.
Thrall led Creighton with 17 points and tied for team-high honors with five assists. Kelsey Crites was the only other player in double figures, chippint in with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting off the bench.
Bradley returns to action Thursday when the Braves open a three-game Valley homestand against Evansville at 7:05 p.m. at Robertson Memorial Field House.
